Sing
Sing is a 2016 American computer-animated musical comedy film directed and written by Garth Jennings, and produced by Illumination Entertainment. It stars the ensemble voices of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, and Tori Kelly. The film is about a group of anthropomorphic animals that enter a singing competition, hosted by a koala who is trying to save his theater. The film includes more than 60 songs from famous artists and also has an original song by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande called "Faith," which was nominated for a Golden Globe. It screened on the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016, premiered at Microsoft Theater on December 3, 2016 and was released in the United States on December 21, 2016, by Universal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews and grossed $634 million worldwide. A sequel, titled Sing 2, is scheduled to be released on July 2, 2021. Plot In a world of anthropomorphic animals, optimistic koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) is the owner of a music theater, having been interested in show-business ever since his father took him to his first music show when he was a child. His assistant is a slightly senile green iguana named Ms. Karen Crawley (Garth Jennings), who has a glass eye (which is removable from her face). Lately, Buster's theater is in financial trouble, due to showing productions that have bombed and his theater is in danger of closing down. Buster tells his friend, Suffolk sheep Eddie Noodleman (John C. Reilly), that he will try and save his theater from closing down by hosting a singing competition, with the prize being $1,000 dollars, despite having only random stuff in his briefcase. Buster isn't the only one in a crisis, as other animals in the city have issues of their own. Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) is a talented singer, but has given up her dreams as a singer to raise 25 unruly children and she is constantly neglected by her workaholic husband, Norman (Nick Offerman). Meena (Tori Kelly) has a great singing voice, but has severe stage fright, causing her pushy grandfather (Jay Pharoah) to pressure her to face her fear. Mike (Seth MacFarlane) is a street musician as he plays the saxophone but doesn't make easy money, prompting him to threaten people who give him cheap profits. Johnny (Taron Egerton) is the son of gorilla mobster Big Daddy (Peter Serafinowicz) who wants him to follow in his criminal footsteps, but Johnny aspires to be a singer. Punk-rocker Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is in a band with her boyfriend Lance (Beck Bennett) who is critical of her rocking style. While printing fliers for the show, Ms. Crawley's glass eye causes her to accidentally imprint $100,000 on the fliers she makes for the competition. Before the fliers can be put all over town, they are accidentally blown out of Buster's office and they make it to Johnny, Meena, Ash, Rosita, and Mike. After holding auditions, Buster picks Mike, Johnny, Rosita, Ash, and some other animals to be in the contest. During Meena's audition, her stage fright causes her to bomb, Lance is dismissed from the contest when he auditions with Ash, and Rosita is partnered with another pig contestant named Gunther (Nick Kroll) to be in a dancing routine. Soon enough, Buster discovers Ms. Crawley's mistake when Eddie shows him the flier, but instead of telling the contestants of the mistake and of the true prize of $1,000, he tries to get enough money for the promised reward. Convinced by her grandfather, Meena tries to get Buster to give her another audition, but due to some technical difficulties, she is hired as a stage hand instead. After some of the animals quit, Rosita, Mike, Johnny, Gunther, Ash, and (soon enough) Meena are the only ones left in the show but soon their individual problem (with Rosita failing to do the dance routine with the glory hog Gunther, Ash soon suffering from immense heartbreak when she thinks Lance cheated, Johnny inadvertently letting his dad be arrested during a heist in the shipping lanes, Meena's stage fright, and Mike owing money to a mob of bears when he cheats in a card game) begin to hinder with rehearsals. Buster visits Eddie to convince him to get his snobbish grandmother Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders) to host the reward money for the show. When they visit Nana, she accepts their offer, but in a snobbish manner. On the day Nana Noodleman comes, the bear mob who Mike earns the ire from come and demand the money from Buster, but his suitcase is full of junk, leading the others to turn on Buster for his deception. Before Buster could meet anybody's wrath, a glass tank full of squids he got breaks and floods the theater, evicting everyone from it. After Nana leaves in a huff, the theater literally comes crashing down. Homeless and despondent, Buster takes up residence at Eddie's house. News of what transpired at the theater hits the news and Buster is soon ridiculed by what has happened, further diminishing his confidence. When the contestants visit him, they try to cheer him up, but Buster is too despondent to listen to them, so they leave. When Buster tries to earn his keep by opening a car wash (using the same bucket that his dad used to pay for Buster's theater), Eddie, unwilling to see Buster so miserable and tells Buster what he told him before; "Once you hit rock bottom, there's nowhere else to go but up." After hearing Meena sing in the remains of the theater, Buster's confidence is renewed and reinstates the show in the remains of the theater, leading to everyone in (including Rosita and Meena's family) to come. Mike bails out when he learns that the prize money is omitted, but soon returns to show his stuff. Throughout their acts, Johnny, Rosita, Ash, and Meena amaze their families (with Big Baddy breaking out of jail to see Johnny and Lance soon getting a crush on Ash again after seeing her on TV). The show becomes a success and Buster gains the money to rebuild the theater. Cast *Matthew McConaughey as Buster Moon, an optimistic koala, who plans to save his theater from closure by holding a singing competition. *Reese Witherspoon as Rosita, a domestic pig, who gave up her teenage music dreams to become a devoted wife of Norman, and mother to 25 piglets. *Seth MacFarlane as Mike, a small white crooning mouse with a big Frank Sinatra-esque voice and an arrogant attitude. *Scarlett Johansson as Ash, a crested porcupine punk rocker who takes part in an alternative-rock music group with her boyfriend Lance until she rejects him. *John C. Reilly as Eddie Noodleman, a Suffolk sheep, and Buster's partner who doubts the future of the theater. *Tori Kelly as Meena, a teenage Indian elephant with an exquisite voice, and severe stage fright. *Taron Egerton as Johnny, a Cockney-accented mountain gorilla, who wants to sing, but his father wants him to follow his criminal footsteps. *Nick Kroll as Gunter, a domestic pig and Rosita's German-accented, very optimistic and bubbly dance partner. *Nick Offerman as Norman, a domestic pig and Rosita's workaholic husband. *Garth Jennings as Karen Crawly, an elderly green iguana who is Buster's assistant and offers Johnny piano lessons. *Peter Serafinowicz as Marcus, Johnny's gang leader father who wants him to follow in his business of crime. *Beck Bennett as Lance, Ash's rejected boyfriend *Leslie Jones as Meena's mother *Jay Pharoah as Meena's grandfather *Jennifer Saunders as Miss Nana Noodleman, a Suffolk sheep who was a former singer in her glory days and Eddie's grandmother. *Jennifer Hudson as Young Nana Noodleman *Rhea Perlman as Judith, a brown Llama from the bank who warns Buster that his theater will be repossessed if he doesn't pay. Production In January 2014, it was announced that Garth Jennings would write and direct an animated comedy film for Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment about "courage, competition and carrying a tune," which was originally titled Lunch, and then retitled as Sing. On January 14, 2015, Matthew McConaughey was added to the cast to voice the lead role in the film. Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy would be producers on the film. On June 17, 2015, it was confirmed that McConaughey voiced Buster and John C. Reilly voiced Eddie, a black sheep and Buster's best friend, while Jennings was directing the film based on his own script. In November 2015, it was announced that Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, Tori Kelly, and Taron Egerton joined the cast for the film. Trivia *This is the first Illumination film to not feature any humans. *The third Universal's animated film to be released in December, after Balto and The Tale of Despereaux. *The second Illumination's musical film, after The Lorax. *This is the final Illumination film until ''The Secret Life of Pets 2'' to be produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Sequel On January 25, 2017, Universal and Illumination announced plans for a sequel, originally scheduled for release on December 25, 2020. However, on April 12, 2019, the release date was pushed back to July 2, 2021, accommodating the release of The Croods 2. Gallery Category:2016 films Category:Films Category:Animated films Category:Comedy films Category:Family films Category:Musical films Category:Sing Category:Sing films Category:Illumination films Category:PG-rated films Category:Theatrical Films Category:Films about animals